2005-2014

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) today called on the authorities of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to release journalist Maurice Kayombo, who has been held for two weeks on charges of “blackmail and disparaging an official,” after the secretary-general of the mining ministry filed a complaint against him. “We condemn this detention, which is being used to intimidate...

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) today called on Chadian authorities to end a wave of media repression, which started in November 2006 in the wake of violent conflict in the eastern part of the country and has most recently been seen in the detention and intimidation of media executives. Lazare Djekourninga Kaoutar, the director of FM Liberté radio station, is charged with...

Press freedom in Pakistan requires the revocation of two anti-press freedom ordinances implemented by President Pervez Musharraf’s caretaker government since emergency rule was declared on November 3, 2007 and an independent journalist-designed code of ethics, according to a new report Emergency in Pakistan: Crisis Mission Rapid Assessment. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and the...

NDTV's office in Ahmedabad was on Saturday smashed by hockey stick-wielding activists of a right wing Hindu fundamentalist group, the channel reported. The Shiv Sena, which has been involved in similar attacks elsewhere, denied that it was involved in any way. Members of the Hindu Samrajya Sena group forced their way in and beat two employees with hockey sticks and steel pipes. They broke all the...

An Afghanistan university student and journalist for daily newspaper Janan-e-Naw, Sayed Parvez Kambakhsh, faces the death penalty at his upcoming trial, according to the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ). Parvez was detained on October 27, 2007, in the northern Afghan city of Mazhar-e-Sharif, accused of “insolence to the Islam” after he allegedly downloaded an article from a Farsi...

Leaders of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) today welcomed the “historic reform” within Tunisian journalism following the creation of a new union of journalists and the lifting of a two-year ban on the IFJ’s website, only weeks after the federation accused the government of being “stuck in a political groove of media manipulation.” Tunisia’s journalists created a national trade...

The World Association of Newspapers and World Editors Forum have asked China to honour its international obligations and release all jailed journalists before the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. In a letter to Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao asking for the immediate release of a journalist who has spent 12 years in prison, the Paris-based WAN and WEF referred to China’s promise to "follow...

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) today accused the Slovenian government of trying to spin its way out of trouble within the European Union over controversial claims that it is interfering in press freedom at home. EFJ said in a statement that political meddling with media in Slovenia cast a shadow over the country’s presidency of the European Union. It has criticised the government...

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) today called on Tanzanian authorities to launch a thorough investigation into the brutal assault of two veteran journalists while they were working in their newsroom. Saed Kubenea, owner and managing editor of the Kiswahili weekly Mwana Halisi, and Ndimara Tegambwage, a consultant editor with the paper, were assaulted by multiple attackers on...

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has called on Sri Lanka’s government and its President, Mahinda Rajapaksa, to take urgent action to protect the safety of journalists and uphold the rights of the media to report on issues of public interest. A serious deterioration in the press freedom environment and safety of journalists in Sri Lanka since January 2, when the government formally...